Wittersham Road railway station

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Coordinates: 51°01′38″N 0°39′36″E / 51.027249°N 0.660072°E / 51.027249; 0.660072
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Wittersham Road
Station on
Ashford, Kent
England
Coordinates51°01′38″N 0°39′36″E / 51.027249°N 0.660072°E / 51.027249; 0.660072
Grid referenceTQ866286
Platforms1
History
Original companyRother Valley Railway
Pre-groupingKent and East Sussex Railway
Post-groupingSouthern Region of British Railways
Key dates
2 April 1900[1]Opened
4 January 1954Closed to passengers
12 June 1961[2]Goods services withdrawn
4 June 1977Services resumed
16 June 1978Officially reopened

Wittersham Road is a

railway station on the Kent and East Sussex Railway. It is located to the north-east of the level crossing on Maytham Road which links the Kentish villages of Rolvenden and Wittersham. Having served the area for over sixty years, the station closed for regular passengers in 1954 and completely in 1961. It was later rebuilt and reopened in 1977 by the Kent and East Sussex Railway
heritage organisation.

History

signal box
.

Wittersham Road was one of the original stations on the 12 miles (19 km) line opened by the Rother Valley Railway between

sidings on the Down side facing Tenterden
.

As with the station buildings at

corrugated iron structure was provided at Wittersham Road, but this time lacking a platform awning.[5] Unlike however all the Rother Valley stations, the station building at Wittersham Road was built at a right-angle to the platform.[6] According to a 1948 timetable, the station was a compulsory stop for all trains from at least 1929 and possibly even earlier.[7]

Between February 1941 and August 1944, a rail-mounted howitzer named SM Cleeve, belonging to the No. 4 (Suffolk) Super-Heavy Railway Battery RA, was stationed at Wittersham Road. Weighing 86 tonnes (85 long tons; 95 short tons) and capable of firing 9.2 inches (230 mm) shells, it was only fired once, causing all the windows in the station to break.[8] Three GWR Dean Goods Class locomotives were on hand to move the howitzer.[9]

Present day

The

MP on 16 June 1978.[11] A water tower from Shrewsbury Abbey on Colonel Stephens' Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway was later erected on site in April 1980.[12]

Services

Preceding station Heritage Railways  Heritage railways Following station
Rolvenden   Kent and East Sussex Railway   Northiam
Disused railways
Rolvenden   British Railways
Southern Region
Kent and East Sussex Railway 		  Northiam

References

  1. ISBN 1-85260-508-1
    , p. 253.
  2. ISBN 0-905466-19-5
    .
  3. ISBN 0-7134-0490-6
    .
  4. ^ Course, E., p. 41.
  5. ISBN 978-0-85361-516-3
    .
  6. ISBN 978-0-86093-608-4
    .
  7. ISBN 978-1-85895-149-2
    .
  8. ISBN 978-1-85306-803-4
    .
  9. ISBN 978-0-906520-21-5
    .
  10. ^ Oppitz, L., p. 139.
  11. ^ Garrett, S., p. 93.
  12. ^ Garrett, S., p. 95.
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